Lighthizer sees U.S., U.K. getting over chicken, drug hurdles

The U.S.’s chief trade negotiator said two potential sticking points in American negotiations with U.K. officials shouldn’t be contentious enough to derail plans for a free-trade agreement between the transatlantic allies.

Robert Lighthizer, speaking at the Oxford Union in the U.K. on Monday, said the issues of chlorinated U.S. chicken and access to Britain’s National Health Service can be worked out during talks that are expected to begin in the next few weeks.

“I don’t think either of those are going to be what sinks us,” he said.

Earlier on Monday, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government made an initial move in the negotiations with the U.S., insisting it will not give ground on politically sensitive issues including the price of drugs and animal welfare.

The U.K. trade strategy—effectively a political wish list that’s likely to bear little resemblance to the final document—calls on the U.S. to end tariffs on steel and to drop the punitive levies on items such as Scotch whisky introduced after the World Trade Organization’s ruling on government subsidies to Airbus SE.

Third Rail

Johnson’s plan also set red lines that reflect British concerns about a deal with the Trump administration, saying the running of the NHS and the price it pays for medicines will not be up for discussion.

On the issue of U.S. chicken exports, which have drawn criticism in the U.K. for food-safety and animal-welfare reasons, Lighthizer said the decision ought to be science based.

“That’s kind of a false problem,” he said. “Science-based standards, and then consumer preference—that’s what’s going to sort out this problem, and the United States and the U.K. are not going to go separate ways based on chicken.”

When asked about the NHS, Lighthizer referred to America’s deal with Canada.

“We have an agreement with Canada. We don’t get into drug pricing in Canada,” he said. “We should have access to normal things that are sold anywhere in the economy in this country. And we would expect that we should have access in the health-care area, to the extent there’s private-sector competition in areas, we should have access to that.”

In his speech, Lighthizer also said he saw no reason why China won’t be able to meet the commitments spelled out in the phase one deal that Washington and Beijing signed in January, as long as the coronavirus outbreak doesn’t become a long-term impediment to economic growth.

Lighthizer used part of his speech to defend U.S. policies of using tariffs as leverage in trade negotiations with economies from China to the European Union. He drew parallels between the American Rust Belt and the British Midlands as regions with displaced manufacturing workers who’ve called on their governments to rewrite trade deals to help restore high-paying factory jobs.

“Contrary to what some of our critics have charged, the United States under President Trump’s leadership has not drifted towards protectionism. We have not raised tariffs across the board, nor have we sought to unwind our trading relationships,” he said in a response to questions from the audience.

“But when you’re the biggest economy in the world, and you are by far the most negatively affected, you cannot operate in a situation where you don’t act in your own best interest when necessary,” he said.